Improvement in eailroid switches



.esoneri T. :BAPE AND "JEPTHAH LEATHE, 0F NEW YORK, N.; Y.

Letters Param' No. 613437, daad Jaimy 22, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT-1N simona swirenss.

'ro ALL wHoM 1r MAY e'oNoEnN:

have invented a new and improved Device 'for Gruiding Railroad Car-Wheels on or off the Track; and-wo vdo hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact .description thereof, which. will enable others skilled in the art tof-make and use thesame, reference being had to Lthe aceonipanying drawings, forming part nf this Y specification', in' which-'- Y Figure 1 is a top'view of the device o'tfour' invention as applied to -a street railroad. A FignreZ is 'a side elevation of the same. i g c v Figure 3 s a top view of amodiiicationof'the'sduie applied to a steam-car railroad. .Figure 4 is-alsidelelevation of the saule. v A Figure 5 is a cross-section of the device as applied to a street railroad.

Figdre 6 is a cross-section' of the'same as applied to astenia-oar railroad. Sitnilarletters of reference indicate like" parts. v Y Thisnvention relates to afdeviee to bepused for guiding railroad cars on or oil the track, 'the form being modified to adapt it to the rail either of a street horse-car railroad or to a railroad for steam cars. It often happens that cars, andv especially street cars in cities, get oil the track, and occasion great delay and inconvenience to passengers in consequence of `the didiculty of replacing the wheels on the rails; 'and frequentlydi't is vdesirable to run acar o' the track on city railroads, forwhich purpose 'it is a common practice to jumper bounce them o by placing a stone or other obstacle on the track, andviolently forcing the wheels against it'. To provide fbr these contingencies is' the obje'ct of this invention, whichconsists in an iron 4bar of very simple conf sttuction, designed to be carried byneach car on aY street railroad, and by the engineer on la. locomotive. 1

Figs. l, 2, and 5 represent our car-guiding device, in the form used for application'tostreet'crs euhm-se railroads, which is a strong iron bar about three feet long, of equal or nearly uniform breadth, as' seen in iig. 1,

and thick enough at one end for the required strength, while,.at the other end,v it is `a little less in thickness than the depth of the flange of a car wheel,to which it is to be applied, as s'een in iig. 2. A groove,iA, runs i down the middle of the top of the bar longitudinally, wide and deep enough to'reeeive the flange of a car wheel iireely, leaving sides, B B, for the tread of the wheel to bear upon. The sides B B project'vmorc` or less at either end beyond the bttom 0f thc 'groove A, and at the thicker and front end of the bar they are curved 'or tapered down from the top to the lower side, and on the nside,'asshown at iig. 2. On thebotto'nn under the .front end of the groove A, is a stout projection, a, which may be as long asv the depth of the top or tread of the rail' of a street railroad, and by preference is made alittle curved or rounded on the back-part. This device nlay-iie'nscd on. .either side of the track, and applied to any of thev wheels of avcar, but ordinarily, when a. car mi` the track,

it will be necessary only to apply it to the front wheel on the outside of the track, which may bekguidcd upon it by placing the projectionxa against the inside of the rail, and the front end of one of the sides B lying on tha l top of the rail, While the other end projects outside of the track'zit any required angle to allow the wheel to bo i run upon it, 4so that the frange shall enter the groove A, and `the tread of the wheel shall rest upon thc'side B, as seen at iig. 5, and 'thus be run upon the rail. .The front wheel on the opposite side ofthecar will take its place inside of the rail without diiiculty, and when both front and hind wheels are off thc'track, the guiding device may then be applied also to the hind wheel on the outside in the same manner.' Figs. 3, iL-and 6 rc'present the earguiding device in the form used for application to railroads operated by steam, which is a modilieation in form to adapt it to the rail of di'erent construction, the position of the part B `for bearing the tread of the wheel being reversed, so that instead of being at the side it is in themiddle'of the guiding bar, with flanges l or wings, A A, on' both sides, corresponding in function to the groove in the middle, previously described. 0n the bottom of -the front Aend lof the flanges A A are projections, a a, which are placed on both sides of the rail,

as shown at g. 6, when, by the same operation and mode of proceeding before described for guiding the cnr wheels on the track'of a street railroad, the 'wheels of acar on a railroad operated by steam may be-guided upon the rail-` l I Having thus described our invention, we claim as new, and desire to secure y Letters Patent- The streetcnr replacer, consisting of the sid pieces B, groove A, lug ct, when construct-1. -l and operating l as herein set forth for the purpose specified. p v

The above specification of our invention signed by us this 9th day of' tiiztcber, 1866.

' eso. r. para, A

. JEPTHH LEATHE. Witnesses: v A

Wn, F. McNmns, x

Amc. F.. Resnais. 

